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$xhtml = array(
	'<{title}>' => 'Microsoft and corporate social responsibility',
	'<{subtitle}>' => 'Written in <span title="Principles of Business Management">BUS 1101</span> of <a href="http://www.uopeople.edu/">University of the People</a>, finalised on 2016-12-21',
	'<{copyright year}>' => '2016',
	'takedown' => '2017-11-01',
	'<{body}>' => <<<END
<p>
	When looking at corporate social responsibilities in multinational corporations, Microsoft is a great example of how most software companies do it wrong.
	As we saw in Unit Three, the Coca-Cola Company is able to contribute to environmental efforts by using recyclable materials to create all of their packaging.
	Because of the industry that Coca-Cola works in, they don&apos;t have as much to so with social issues, so at least in theory, they&apos;re not doing harm on that front.
	However, software and cloud computing are tied in very heavily with certain modern social issues, and Microsoft is right there in the middle of it.
	The modern software industry is built on a foundation of ripping off and abusing customers, so most software corporations perform very negatively in terms of social responsibilities.
	That said, like the Coca-Cola Company, Microsoft is making a big effort to reduce their environmental impact and take responsibility for the impact that they do have.
</p>
<h2>In terms of social goals</h2>
<p>
	Microsoft claims to take a principled approach to decision-making (Microsoft, n.d.).
	They claim to empower their customers, both individuals and organizations (Microsoft, n.d.), and they claim to support privacy and data security (Microsoft, n.d.).
	However, their actions paint a very different picture then their words.
</p>
<p>
	One of their biggest failures to meet their social goals is the spyware built into Windows 10.
	These feature send data back to Microsoft whether you like it or not, and while Microsoft claims that it&apos;s anonymous data, it isn&apos;t; it includes a device identifier that ties the data back to <strong>*you specifically*</strong>.
	Likewise, the data sent back to Microsoft can contain anything on your hard drive, including but not limited to <strong>*confidential and private files and emails*</strong>.
	It even bypasses your system proxy (Bright, 2015), which could put people that are in certain types of bad situations at risk, and sometimes uses unencrypted $a[HTTP] (Bright, 2015), which allows every network machine between you and Microsoft see your private information as well.
	Likewise, by agreeing to use Windows 10, you agree to allow Microsoft to monitor your computer usage at any time for any reason (Garkey, 2015).
	If you look in the Windows 10 control panel, it looks like you can shut all of the data tracking off, but you actually can&apos;t.
	Microsoft even admits that there&apos;s no way to disable it (Kelly, 2015).
	Microsoft is even forcing updates on users (Kelly, 2015), meaning that they can change your system to add whatever new customer-abusing features that they want to at any time.
	You don&apos;t even get to look over a summery of the changes made or decline the updates.
</p>
<p>
	<strong><em>This isn&apos;t empowerment.
	This isn&apos;t privacy.
	This is subjugation.</em></strong>
</p>
<h2>In terms of environmental goals</h2>
<p>
	While Microsoft&apos;s inability to meet their claimed social goals is a bit appalling, they are also setting environmental goals.
	Because meeting environmental goals only costs Microsoft money and effort, it&apos;s not something that they see as cutting into their bottom line as much as meeting their social goals would.
	In other words, the cost of helping keep the planet alive is much lower than the perceived cost of treating their customers decently.
	Additionally, if the planet gets messed up too badly, Microsoft (and everyone else) is going to be struggling pretty hard.
	As such, I have little doubt that Microsoft is keeping the commitments that they&apos;ve made to the environment.
</p>
<p>
	One impressive feat that Microsoft claims is that they&apos;ve become carbon-neutral.
	(Microsoft, n.d.) With carbon emissions badly damaging the global climate, it&apos;s awesome when large corporations take responsibility by not adding to the problem.
	They&apos;re also trying to minimize the impact of their waste and use water wisely.
</p>
<h2>Challenges in setting and keeping social and environmental goals</h2>
<p>
	One of the biggest challenges for Microsoft in setting and especially in keeping their social goals is the widespread lack of social goal follow-through in the industry.
	When almost almost no software company is meeting their social responsibilities, what motivation does Microsoft have to do any differently? Taking care to be a responsible and ethical company would cost money and require a major reworking of the company&apos;s procedures, so without incentive to be ethical, there&apos;s essentially intensive <strong>*not*</strong> to be ethical.
	Additionally, most of their customer base is too lazy to do their research.
	Why be ethical when you can just tell your customers that you&apos;re being ethical and they&apos;ll believe you? It&apos;s cheaper just to lie.
	It&apos;s also difficult to justify to shareholders that you&apos;re switching to a business model that involves treating customers like real people, as doing such will initially cause a drop in profits until a better way to boost the bottom line is found.
</p>
<p>
	As for environmental goals, these sorts of goals pose a different sort of challenge, and one that Microsoft is far more prepared to meet.
	This sort of challenge requires planning and money to overcome, but does not ultimately impact the form of their intended product.
	As such, Microsoft is able to call it just a good deed and put in the effort and money needed.
	Setting and meeting these environmental goals is no doubt challenging, as Microsoft has to justify the added expenditures (both in direct money spent and in labor hours during the planning stages, which cost money) to their share holders, but it&apos;s easier to justify their environmental good than their social good to their likely share holders, people that value money over people.
</p>
<h2>Why Microsoft likely cares more (and doesn&apos;t care more) than in the past</h2>
<p>
	I think Microsoft is a prime example of the fact that in the software industry, most corporations <strong>*aren&apos;t*</strong> paying more attention to social goals than before.
	To them, concern that pops up over social issues is little more than a nuisance to be swatted away or ignored.
	Sometimes, these corporations even put on a face saying that they&apos;re taking care of these social issues, but if you pull back this thin guise, you see that they really aren&apos;t.
	Admittedly, there are a few software companies that do take social issues very seriously, but these companies are few and far between.
</p>
<p>
	On the other hand, environmentalism is taking the world by storm.
	Ten years ago, concern for our planet wasn&apos;t nearly thought about as it is today.
	As more and more people become environmentally conscientious, these large corporations such as Microsoft are realizing that if they want to keep their customers, they&apos;re going to have to go green.
	Many of their customers care about the environment, but while not all do, it only takes a few noisy environmentalist to muck up their gears if they aren&apos;t making a real effort to respect the planet.
	Likewise, with more and more people realizing the importance of our home world, it wouldn&apos;t surprise me at all if many people working for Microsoft actually care about the environment as well.
	There are likely board members that insist that the company try to be green.
	Likewise, there are probably many employees that want to work for a green company, so Microsoft going green could be, in part, a move to boost morale.
</p>
<div class="APA_references">
	<h2>References:</h2>
	<p>
		Bright, P. (2015, August 12). Even when told not to, Windows 10 just can&apos;t stop talking to Microsoft | Ars Technica UK. Retrieved from <a href="http://arstechnica.co.uk./information-technology/2015/08/even-when-told-not-to-windows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/"><code>http://arstechnica.co.uk./information-technology/2015/08/even-when-told-not-to-windows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/</code></a>
	</p>
	<p>
		Garkey, O. (2015, August 2). Windows 10 comes with built-in spyware. If your work requires confidentiality, DO NOT INSTALL. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.dailykos.com./story/2015/8/2/1408113/-Windows-10-comes-with-built-in-spyware-If-your-work-requires-confidentiality-DO-NOT-INSTALL"><code>https://www.dailykos.com./story/2015/8/2/1408113/-Windows-10-comes-with-built-in-spyware-If-your-work-requires-confidentiality-DO-NOT-INSTALL</code></a>
	</p>
	<p>
		Kelly, G. (2015, November 2). Microsoft Admits Windows 10 Automatic Spying Cannot Be Stopped. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.forbes.com./sites/gordonkelly/2015/11/02/microsoft-confirms-unstoppable-windows-10-tracking/"><code>https://www.forbes.com./sites/gordonkelly/2015/11/02/microsoft-confirms-unstoppable-windows-10-tracking/</code></a>
	</p>
	<p>
		Kelly, G. (2015, July 17). Forbes Welcome. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.forbes.com./sites/gordonkelly/2015/07/17/windows-10-forced-automatic-updates/"><code>https://www.forbes.com./sites/gordonkelly/2015/07/17/windows-10-forced-automatic-updates/</code></a>
	</p>
	<p>
		Microsoft. (n.d.). Corporate Social Responsibility | Microsoft. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.microsoft.com./en-us/about/corporate-responsibility"><code>https://www.microsoft.com./en-us/about/corporate-responsibility</code></a>
	</p>
	<p>
		Microsoft. (n.d.). Planet and environmental sustainability | Microsoft. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.microsoft.com./en-us/about/corporate-responsibility/planet"><code>https://www.microsoft.com./en-us/about/corporate-responsibility/planet</code></a>
	</p>
	<p>
		Microsoft. (n.d.). Principles of corporate social responsibility | Microsoft. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.microsoft.com./en-us/about/corporate-responsibility/principles"><code>https://www.microsoft.com./en-us/about/corporate-responsibility/principles</code></a>
	</p>
</div>
END
);
